Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and Final competitions. Each stage is judged by a panel of representatives from the Metropolitan Opera. There are a total of 14 regional competitions within the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and 42 district competitions within each region. Winners from the district competition compete in Regionals, and then the winners of regionals are awarded a trip to New York City where they compete on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in the National Semi-Final Competition. Approximately 10 semi-finalists are chosen to compete in the final competition; the five winners are awarded a grand prize of $15,000 each, and the remaining finalists receive $5,000.
National winners[]
1950s[]
- Ethel Wagner DeLong (1954)
- Charlotte Reincke (1955)
- William Black (1956)
- Dorothy Cole Posch (1956)
- Robert Nagy (1956)[1]
- Robert Mosley (1957)
- Joan Wall (1957)
- Felicia Weathers (1957)
- Grace Bumbry (1958)
- Barbara Faulkner (1958)
- Lucille Kailer (1958)
- Barbara Leichsenring (1958)
- Jefferson Morris (1958)
- Ronald Holgate (1959)
- Norman Mittelmann (1959)
- Roald Reitan (1959)
- Ann Scott (1959)
- Teresa Stratas (1959)
1960s[]
- Mary Jennings (1960)
- Mary MacKenzie (1960)
- Spiro Malas (1960)
- Lavergne Monette (1960)
- Polyna Savridi (1960)
- Benita Valente (1960)
- Billie Lynn Daniel (1961)
- Maria de Francesca-Cavazza (1961)
- Edna Garabedian (1961)
- Francesca Roberto (1961)
- George Shirley (1961)
- Shirley Verrett (1961)
- Elizabeth Fischer (1962)
- June Genovese (1962)
- Kay Griffel (1962)
- Janis Martin (1962)
- James McCray (1962)
- Carol Toscano (1962)
- Veronica Tyler-Scott (1962)
- William Walker (1962)
- Russell Christopher (1963)
- Justino Díaz (1963)
- Junetta Jones (1963)
- Michael Trimble (1963)
- Gene Boucher (1964)
- Maria Candida (1964)
- Robert Goodloe (1964)
- Katherine Kaufman (1964)
- Mary Beth Peil (1964)
- Huguette Tourangeau (1964)
- Loretta Di Franco (1965)
- Gretchen D'Armand (1965)
- Theodore Lambrinos (1965)
- Claudia Lindsey (1965)
- Maria Pellegrini Macko (1965)
- (1965)
- Richard Stilwell (1965)
- Karan Armstrong (1966)
- Dominic Cossa (1966)
- Conrad Immel (1966)
- Gwendolyn Killebrew (1966)
- Evelyn Mandac (1966)
- Marylyn Mulvey (1966)
- Gail Robinson (1966)
- Annie Walker (1966)
- (1967)
- Sakiko Kanamori (1967)
- Paula Page (1967)
- Jacquelyn Benson (1968)
- William Cochran (1968)
- Patricia Craig (1968)
- Judith Forst (1968)
- Glenys Fowles (1968)
- Gwendolyn Jones (1968)
- Jessye Norman (1968)
- Nancy Shade (1968)
- Ruth Welting (1968)
- Loretta Ziskin (1968)
- Elaine Cormany (1969)
- Gilda Cruz-Romo (1969)
- James Johnson (1969)
- Eugenie Chopin Watson (1969)
- Frederica von Stade (1969)
1970s[]
- Jeannine Altmeyer (1970)
- Barbara Pearson (1971)
- Christine Weidinger (1972)
- Douglas Ahlstedt (1973)
- (1974)
- Carmen Balthrop (1975)
- John Carpenter (1976)
- Ashley Putnam (1976)
- Vinson Cole (1977)
- Wendy White (1978)
- Winifred Faix Brown (1978)
- (1979)
- Pamela Hicks (1979)
- Dianne Iauco (1979)
- Sandra McClain (1979)
- Robert McFarland (1979)
- (1979)
- (1979)
- Natalia Rom (1979)
- Susan St. John (1979)
- Michael Talley (1979)
- Delores Ziegler (1979)
1980s[]
- Marjo Carroll (1980)
- Louise Deal-Pluymen (1980)
- (1980)
- Kevin Langan (1980)
- Darren Nimnicht (1980)
- Lani Norskog (1980)
- Robin Reed (1980)
- Leslie Richards (1980)
- Margaret Vazquez (1980)
- Lauren Wagner (1980)
- Thomas Woodman (1980)
- Laurence Albert (1981)
- (1981)
- Rebecca Cook (1981)
- Gail Dobish (1981)
- Gail Dubinbaum (1981)
- Susan Dunn (1981)
- (1981)
- Thomas Hampson (1981)
- (1981)
- Laura Brooks Rice (1981)
- Valerie Yova (1981)
- Lucille Beer (1982)
- (1982)
- Pamela Coburn (1982)
- Carla Cook (1982)
- Nancy Gustafson (1982)
- Hong Hei-kyung (1982)
- (1982)
- Sylvia McNair (1982)
- Katharine Ritz (1982)
- Kathleen Segar (1982)
- Eduardo Villa (1982)
- Harolyn Blackwell (1983)
- Linda Caple (1983)
- Jean Glennon (1983)
- Elizabeth Holleque (1983)
- Ellen Kerrigan (1983)
- (1983)
- Alessandra Marc (1983)
- (1983)
- (1983)
- (1983)
- Stella Zambalis (1983)
- Elaine Arandes (1984)
- Philip Bologna (1984)
- Richard Croft (1984)
- Gerald Dolter (1984)
- Marcus Haddock (1984)
- (1984)
- (1984)
- (1984)
- (1984)
- (1984)
- Jonathan Welch (1984)
- (1985)
- (1985)
- (1985)
- Richard Cowan (1985)
- (1985)
- Anne Johnson (1985)
- Victoria Livengood (1985)
- Deborah Voigt (1985)
- Karen Williams (1985)
- Margaret Jane Wray (1985)
- (1985)
- (1986)
- (1986)
- (1986)
- Mark S. Doss (1986)
- Gordon Hawkins (1986)
- (1986)
- (1986)
- Marilyn Mims (1986)
- Stanford Olsen (1986)
- (1986)
- Michael Sylvester (1986)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- Nikki Li Hartliep (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- (1987)
- Blythe Walker (1987)
- (1988)
- (1988)
- Renée Fleming (1988)
- (1988)
- Susan Graham (1988)
- Ben Heppner (1988)
- (1988)
- (1988)
- (1988)
- Heidi Grant Murphy (1988)
- (1988)
- Christine Brewer (1989)
- (1989)
- (1989)
- (1989)
- Mary Mills (1989)
- Mark Oswald (1989)
- Kevin Short (1989)
- Tichina Vaughn (1989)
- (1989)
- Verónica Villarroel (1989)
1990s[]
- (1990)
- Steven Combs (1990)
- (1990)
- (1990)
- (1990)
- Susan Owen (1990)
- (1990)
- (1990)
- (1990)
- (1990)
- Roy Cornelius Smith (1990)
- Brian Asawa (1991)
- (1991)
- Elizabeth Futral (1991)
- Paul Groves (1991)
- (1991)
- (1991)
- Kenneth Tarver (1991)
- (1991)
- (1992)
- Michelle DeYoung (1992)
- (1992)
- (1992)
- (1992)
- (1992)
- (1992)
- Tony Stevenson (1992)
- (1993)
- (1993)
- (1993)
- (1993)
- Emily Ann Pulley (1993)
- Ainhoa Arteta (1993)
- Elizabeth Bishop (1993)
- Dennis McNeil (1993)
- Norah Amsellem (1994)
- (1994)
- Stephanie Blythe (1994)
- (1994)
- Nathan Gunn (1994)
- (1994)
- (1994)
- (1994)
- (1994)
- (1994)
- Michael Chioldi (1995)
- Robert Crowe (1995)
- Amelia Farrugia (1995)
- (1995)
- (1995)
- (1995)
- (1995)
- Sondra Radvanovsky (1995)
- (1995)
- (1995)
- (1996)
- (1996)
- (1996)
- (1996)
- (1996)
- Eric Owens (1996)
- Jami Rogers (1996)
- Jung-Hack Seo (1996)
- (1996)
- Isabel Bayrakdarian (1997)
- Angela Brown (1997)
- Alexandra Deshorties (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- (1997)
- Eric Cutler (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- (1998)
- Chen-Ye Yuan (1998)
- (1998)
- Kelly Kaduce (1999)
- Meagan Miller (1999)
- (1999)
- (1999)
- (1999)
2000s[]
- (2000)
- Esther Heideman (2000)
- (2000)
- Latonia Moore (2000)
- (2000)
- Lawrence Brownlee (2001)
- (2001)
- (2001)
- (2001)
- (2001)
- (2002)
- (2002)
- (2002)
- James Valenti (2002)
- Alyson Cambridge (2003)
- Michael Maniaci (2003)
- (2003)
- (2003)
- (2004)
- Claudia Huckle (2004)
- (2004)
- (2005)
- Lisette Oropesa (2005)
- Susanna Phillips (2005)
- (2005)
- (2006)
- (2006)
- (2006)
- (2006)
- (2006)
- Jamie Barton (2007)
- Michael Fabiano (2007)
- Angela Meade (2007)
- (2007)
- (2007)
- (2007)
- (2008)
- Jennifer Johnson Cano (2008)
- (2008)
- Simone Osborne (2008)
- (2008)
- Paul Appleby (2009)
- Anthony Roth Costanzo (2009)
- (2009)
- Nadine Sierra (2009)
2010s[]
- , soprano (2010)
- , soprano (2010)
- Elliot Madore, baritone (2010)
- , tenor (2010)
- Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano (2010)
- Joseph Barron, bass-baritone (2011)
- Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone (2011)
- , soprano (2011)
- , baritone (2011)
- Philippe Sly, bass-baritone (2011)
- Janai Brugger, soprano (2012)
- Anthony Clark Evans, baritone (2012)
- Matthew Grills, tenor (2012)
- Margaret Mezzacappa, mezzo-soprano (2012)
- Andrey Nemzer, countertenor (2012)
- Michael Brandenburg, tenor (2013)
- Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone (2013)
- Sydney Mancasola, soprano (2013)
- Musa Ngqungwana, bass-baritone (2013)
- Rebecca Pedersen, soprano (2013)
- Thomas Richards, bass-baritone (2013)
- Julie Adams, soprano (2014)
- Patrick Guetti, bass (2014)
- Ao Li, bass-baritone (2014)
- Yi Li, tenor (2014)
- Amanda Woodbury, soprano (2014)
- Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone (2015)
- Marina Costa-Jackson, soprano (2015)
- Joseph Dennis, tenor (2015)
- Reginald Smith Jr., baritone (2015)
- Virginie Verrez, mezzo-soprano (2015)
- Emily D'Angelo, mezzo-soprano (2016)
- Yelena Dyachek, soprano (2016)
- , baritone (2016)
- Jakub Józef Orliński, countertenor (2016)
- Sean Michael Plumb, baritone (2016)
- Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano (2017)
- Vanessa Vasquez, soprano (2017)
- Richard Smagur, tenor (2017)
- Samantha Hankey, mezzo-soprano (2017)
- Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (2017)
- Kyle van Schoonhoven, tenor (2017)
- Ashley Dixon, mezzo-soprano (2018)
- Jessica Faselt, soprano (2018)
- Madison Leonard, soprano (2018)
- Carlos Enrique Santelli, tenor (2018)
- Hongni Wu, mezzo-soprano (2018)
- Miles Mykkanen, tenor (2019)
- William Guanbo Su, bass (2019)
- Elena Villalón, soprano (2019)
- Thomas Glass, baritone (2019)
- Michaela Wolz, mezzo-soprano (2019)
- Gabrielle Beteag, mezzo-soprano (2020)
- Blake Denson, baritone (2020)
- Jonah Hoskins, tenor (2020)
- Alexandria Shiner, soprano (2020)
- Denis Vélez, soprano (2020)
References[]
- ^ "Tenor Wins 'MET' Prize; Robert Nagy Gets $2,000 Audition Scholarship 2 M.P's to Attend Screening". The New York Times. March 21, 1956. (subscription required)
External links[]
- Metropolitan Opera
- Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
- Opera competitions
- Recurring events established in 1954
- Opera-related lists